Diabetes drug may help Alzheimer's sufferers, new study says

Written by: Catherine Griwkowsky, QMI Agency Dec. 11, 2012

Jack Jhamandas, a researcher with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, sits in his office on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Jhamandas and his team have found a link between a drug intended for diabetes and promising results for use in Alzheimer's disease. Raquel Maurier/University of Alberta

EDMONTON - Brain scientists are looking into a treatment for diabetes that may work in Alzheimer’s patients.

Jack Jhamandas, researcher at the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, found a drug that was meant for diabetes — known as AC253 — can also return memory to brain cells.

The scientists sent shocks to brain cells from the hippocampus — the part of the brain that’s responsible for learning and memory — in a dish and, with treatment, the cells remembered the shocks.

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